#louisville courier journal

[yesterdaysprint]

The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, April 17, 1925

[spawksstuff]

1976 07 18 The Courier Journal

Omicron Fantasy Convention - Louisville, Ky

[magpiepills]

I saw your post about Breonna Taylor. If you don't mind I like to ask some questions about her. Most of what I know about her is from watching documentaries and YouTube videos talking about her. Do you know any websites or news articles that talks about her? How accurate are the documentaries about her? Especially ones like ABC 20/20?

Hi there! I have not personally watched any documentaries about Breonna Taylor’s murder. I can��t say how accurate they are. What I know about what transpired I learned from reputable local news reports-mainly the Louisville NPR affiliate, the Courier Journal, posts in private groups, as well as person to person reporting at protests and from live streams of the protests. I’m not an expert on this, I can’t posit myself as someone who is an authority on the matter. But I have followed it very closely because it incenses me that this crime has gone unpunished, that a victim has been dragged through the mud, her loved ones traumatized by killer cops. It’s unconscionable.

Here are a couple links that I feel are trustworthy. If after reading all this you are angry and feel powerless, please check to make sure you are registered to vote and then VOTE. Pick candidates who are committed to police reform. Take your friends. Tell them about Breonna.

[beardedmrbean]

FRANKFORT – Potential mothers could claim child support during pregnancy under a new proposal before the Kentucky legislature.

House Bill 243, filed by Republican Reps. Amy Neighbors of Edmonton and Stephanie Dietz of Edgewood, would change Kentucky law to claim child support "at any time following conception."

The bill is designed to support pregnant mothers, Neighbors said.

"There are a lot of costs associated with a pregnancy and basically getting ready for baby," Neighbors said, pointing to car seats, other needed supplies and lost work time when a pregnant mother has to attend doctor appointments.

But abortion-rights advocates see the bill as part of an attempt to advance an anti-abortion agenda by laying the groundwork for fetal personhood under Kentucky law.

Bills based on the idea that a fetus is a person have been filed across the country after the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Neighbors said her decision to introduce the bill was not directly influenced by Kentucky's ban on most abortions but rather by a desire to support women during pregnancy.

The measure also would allow paternity testing prior to birth, as long as it's safe to do so, Neighbors said.

The bill was sent to the Committee on Committees on Jan. 11. Neighbors said she believes HB 243 will have widespread support from House Republicans.

Critics see bill as attempt at fetal personhood

Abortion-rights advocates told The Courier Journal the measure is an attempt to cement into law the belief that life begins at conception.

Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, said the measure would create a "slippery slope" for pregnant people.

"What the bill would do would be to grant full personhood to an embryo from the moment of conception," Willner said. "These so-called personhood laws could result in a pregnant woman facing child abuse charges and even incarceration if she seeks treatment for drug or alcohol abuse.”

“The legislature should instead focus on bolstering actual support for pregnancy, such as ensuring insurance access, covering doula and midwifery services, and expanding mental health supports," Willner said.

"This bill is an underhanded attempt to advance an anti-abortion agenda and lay the groundwork for fetal personhood in state law by allowing people to seek child support for a fetus," said Tamarra Wieder, Kentucky state director for the Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates.

Wieder is also concerned the bill would open the door for surveillance of pregnant people because it would require the state to verify their eligibility for child support. She agreed with Willner that the legislature should focus on health care during pregnancy.

Planned Parenthood will ask its supporters to call legislators and express their opposition, Wieder said.

"We may actually be able to stop this because Kentuckians don't want more restrictions to abortion, and this is another abortion restriction that would be codified in law," Wieder said.

But when asked when asked about the comments from abortions-rights supporters, Neighbors said, "I can’t stress enough that my goal is to simply be supportive of mothers, children, and families."

National trend

The bill is the first Kentucky measure Willner has seen that creates a potential personhood definition for a fetus, she said.

But other states and Congress have considered, and in some cases adopted, similar bills around child support.

In 2021, Utah adopted a measure that requires fathers to pay 50% of the mother's pregnancy expenses. Indiana's legislature last year expanded the list of childbirth-related expenses fathers could be held responsible for paying, though the legislature stopped short of categorizing those payments as child support.

Georgia's abortion law applies the state's child support rules to any fetus "with a detectable heartbeat."

Washington Republicans have introduced bills similar to the current proposal in Kentucky. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, in December introduced in their respective chambers the "Supporting Healthy Pregnancy Act," which would require biological fathers to pay child support for medical expenses during pregnancy.

"These bills are often introduced by folks who are pro-life or anti-abortion who believe that a fetus or unborn child is a rights-holding person," said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California-Davis. She is writing a book about the fetal personhood movement.

"The strategy behind them is to set a precedent that, you know, that life in the womb has rights essentially, which would obviously have extensions to abortion too," Ziegler said. "Essentially it would mean liberal abortion laws would be unconstitutional."

A separate Kentucky bill introduced by Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, would add exceptions for rape, incest, maternal health, and lethal fetal anomalies to Kentucky's near-total ban on abortions. __________________

I thought this was what they wanted, people keep going after pro life people for fetal child support and now that it's on the docket they're mad for some reason.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jack Winstanley at MMFA:

Right-wing and far-right media have amplified a baseless claim that touch screen voting machines in Kentucky are flipping votes from former President Donald Trump to Vice President Kamala Harris, with similar claims emerging from Texas. Local election officials in each state have rebutted the claims, with one Kentucky official saying, “There is no scenario in which a voter would be forced to cast a ballot that they believe did not reflect their intentions.”

Election officials in several states have rebutted social media posts claiming that voting machines are flipping votes

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams debunked a widespread TikTok video that purports to show a voter in Laurel County, Kentucky, unable to select Trump on a touch screen voting machine. The video, which also showed the machine selecting Harris, has received 6.1 million views, with right-wing figures sharing it across other social media platforms as well. According to Adams, “There is no ‘vote-switching.’ The voter confirmed that her ballot was correctly printed as marked for the candidate of her choice. Get your voting information from legitimate sources.” [The Dispatch, 10/31/24; TikTok, 10/21/24, 10/21/24; Louisville Courier Journal, 10/31/24; PolitiFact, 11/1/24]

Kentucky election officials suggested that the video showed an isolated incident, with one Laurel County official stating, “Nobody complained before her, nobody complained after her.” Laurel County officials reported the issue to the attorney general’s office “just to cover all our bases,” and took their own video “showing that the machine is working and it is not flipping votes,” but were ultimately “unable to replicate the woman’s issue.” A spokesperson for the company that provides voting equipment for Laurel County confirmed that the touch screen devices print paper ballots that can be reviewed by voters prior to submission, adding, “There is no scenario in which a voter would be forced to cast a ballot that they believe did not reflect their intentions.” [The Dispatch, 10/31/24]

The Tarrant County, Texas, elections office stated that it has “no reason to believe that votes are being switched by the voting system,” after a right-wing X (formerly Twitter) influencer claimed that machines were switching votes. Right-wing commentator George Behizy claimed that “Voters in Tarrant County, Texas are reporting that the voting machines are flipping their votes from Trump to Kamala Harris.” Local officials confirmed, however, that the voter who believed his vote had been miscast “was issued a new ballot and able to vote." [PolitiFact, 10/24/24; Twitter/X, 10/21/24] 

In the run-up to Election Day, right-wing and far-right media figures have been pushing baseless claims and conspiracy theories, seemingly attempting to undermine the election results. Several of these claims have involved voting machines, but experts say that voting machines are safe and difficult to hack or interfere with, and that errors are generally remedied by poll workers and local officials who have backup systems to ensure accurate votes are cast. [Bloomberg, 10/30/24; ABC News, 10/31/24; CBS News, 10/24/24; Brennan Center for Justice, 3/1/24, 10/25/24; Media Matters, 10/24/24, 10/30/24]

Election denialist right-wing media mouthpieces push the BS lie that touch screen voting machines are “flipping” votes from Donald Trump to Kamala Harris to push the lie about how the upcoming elections are “rigged.”

[bretzkysbs]

from The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, December 27, 1925

(via Yesterday's Print on X)

[franciswhetsel]

I can't find on my blog if I've posted about this before, but the 19th century local dandy that wrote Edgar Allen Poe fanfiction, Douglass Sherley, was mentioned in this letter that a local historian dug up for me and it is fascinating. I'm just going to copy + paste my pillowfort post about it.

So the historian I've been in contact with was an incredible help, and went ahead and transcribed the bits of the letters that discuss Sherley.

"The description of Douglass Sherley is on the final page of that letter (page 6) and reads:

“By this time you have, doubtless, read of the horrible confirmation of the old reports about Douglass Sherley. I did not believe them before and cannot comprehend how he could have been guilty of such baseness. He has consented to leave the country for good next Monday, so ___ Sherley’s brother informed brother Will.” Bruce then goes on to talk about cantaloupes, I think. I believe the blank might be “Mrs.” or a first name.

Second letter, second page

“You say you did not read of Douglass Sherley’s disgrace. Don’t speak of it to anyone, for the disgraceful affair should never pollute a woman’s lips.' "

These letters are from August 23rd and August 28th 1896, and there are barely any mention of him in the Courier Journal after 1896. This is important because prior to that he was all over the paper. There were mentions of him going to numerous weddings and parties, he wrote columns for the paper, and he was involved in putting on things like operas and plays. 

He also died in Martinsville, Indiana, which makes me wonder if that was where he moved. (I believe he still lived in Louisville for part of his last years.) 

I think I've just about reached a wall with my research; the only other thing I have any interest (at the moment, at least) in chasing after are newspapers that he was in when he toured with James Whitcomb Riley. Someone else was kind enough to write a blog entry that includes clippings from non-Louisville newspapers, and they're an interesting look into how Sherley was known outside of Louisville: 

The Wilmington, NC Weekly Star, 8 Dec 1893 (reprinted from the Indianapolis Journal):

Kentucky’s Oscar Wilde Douglass Sherley is doubtless, in a literary way, the most conspicuous person in Louisville. He is notable also in many other ways. At first glance he is seen to be what is styled a “character.” Being fond of character study himself, he would no doubt generously recognize his own claim to the classification. He is a large, well built, squarely adjusted man, with a massive head and neck, dark hair, an intelligent brown, suggestive of femininity in a way, keen and kindly eyes, a large brown mustache, worn in curly ends like the “beau catchers” of the traditional stage spinster, a pleasant, sensitive mouth, with the air of a man of the world, but withal a clean, temperate, perfectly correct man of the world. He has a droll habit of holding his head on one side and looking aslant through his eyeglasses, which gives him a unique expression, and without which and the flowers in his lapel, almost always a red rose, he would hardly be Douglass Sherley, Mr. Sherley is popular among the men, and also much liked by the women, his literary work being more generally appreciated by the latter. There is a fine, feminine, but not unmanly, quality in his writings, which  really only women, or men with a like feminine streak, can interpret and enjoy.

A point of interest is this May 1886 article about Sherley from the Cincinnati Enquirer

A CLUB SCANDAL Douglas Sherley, of the Pelhams, Involved He Hunts for the Originator of the Story, and in His Search Punches a Bank Clerk SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER LOUISVILLE, KY., May 3 — Nothing is talked of in the clubs to-night except a difficulty which occured to-day between Mr. Douglas Sherley, Present of the Pelham Club, and Mr. Matt Smith, a member of that body. Mr. Sherley is a man of means and leisure, and belongs essentially to society. HE has written several books and has built an aesthetic house that has been the talk of the town for three years. The Pelham Club members are the younger set of society men and recently persuaded Mr. Sherley to accept the Presidency of their club. Within the last two weeks, however, a movement has been on foot in which twenty members of the club were interested to bring about Mr. Sherley’s removal. The understanding was that the twenty members in question should offer their resignations simultaneously to the Board of Directors. When questioned in regard to this unexpected action they were to say they would not belong to an organization which had for its Chief Executive a man who had been guilty of certain disgusting and unnatural practices that were charged against Mr. Sherley. When Mr. Sherley heard of this movement to-day he went at once to Mr. Matt Smith, a blank clerk, whom he had heard was one of his defamers, and demanded an immediate denial in writing of the nasty stories. Mr. Smith said he had not originated the stories, but had repeated them, and refused to sign the paper. Mr. Sherley, who is a fearless man and very athletic, promptly attacked young Smith and gave him a sharp blow in the neck. Smith attempted to return the blow, but outsiders interfered too quickly, and dragged the gentlemen apart before either was painfully injured. The affair quickly went the rounds, and the scandal has been vigorously discussed by society men all day. It is due Mr. Sherley to say that none of his friends believe the stories which gossips have put in circulation about him. He is an eccentric man, and some of his peculiarities have subjected him to comment, but he is a gentleman, nevertheless. Mr. Sherley has secured a cowhide and a pistol, it is said, and will either thrash or kill the man who is at the bottom of the outrage, if he can discover him.

I have a lot of thoughts about the connection but I'll get back around to that later

[eptodaytommorowforever]

Rare Journalist Columnist Billy Reed's Candid Photo Of Elvis Presley Here Performing At The Freedom Hall In Louisville In Kentucky And The Bill Reeds Courier Journal Newspapers Brief Review Of This Show.

[hooked-on-elvis]

Elvis would have stayed in the Army if he wasn't an entertainer.

APRIL 19TH, 1959 – THE LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL, KY

"Sure, I count the time I have left, but it's not the Army itself that's a bad deal. It's a pretty good deal. If you have something to do in the outside though, you kinda look forward in returning to it. If I had nothing to do, I'd stay in the Army." — Elvis, April 1959.

Germany, 1959 - Fans waiting for Elvis' arrival, outside his rented home at Goethestrasse 14, Bad Nauheim, Germany.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Marc Murphy, Louisville Courier-Journal

[dropboxofcuriosities]

Attention aux soucoupes volantes qui atterrissent sur les autoroutes, Louisville Courier Journal, 1957.

[explicus]

Tobacco Harvest 1946

Photographer: Marie Hansen (American, 1918-1969)

After graduating from the University of Missouri, Marie Hansen went to the Louisville Courier-Journal where she was a photographer and photo editor. In 1942, she was offered a job to join the team of LIFE staff photographers as their third female staff photographer (Margaret Bourke-White and Hansel Mieth were the other two at the time). Hansen’s first big story for LIFE was her photo-essay on the WAAC’s, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, which was first organized in the United States, May 12, 1942. In 1945, Hansen went to Hollywood for LIFE, where Joseph Pasternak (Hungarian-born film producer working at MGM) asked her to audition. After a screen test, she was offered a movie contract, but turned it down because she realized she was more interested in what was going on behind the camera than in front of it. After Hollywood, Hansen was stationed in Washington, D.C. where she was assigned to the White House during most of World War II. General Dwight D. Eisenhower chose one of Hansen’s portraits of him as his “official” photograph. In 1946, Hansen left LIFE as a staff photographer, and she and her husband David Wesley toured the world as a writer/photographer team.

[wallow-away]

The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, August 1952 / Emergency Management, Camille Rankine / The Collected Poems; “Witch Burning,” Sylvia Plath / Boku no Ita Jikan (2014) / Ribs, Lorde / Anne with an E, S1:E2 / Ribs, Lorde / Simon Leclerc / The Lover, Marguerite Duras

[muddypolitics]

(via Let's Take a Closer Look at the Abuse Allegation Against House Oversight Chair James Comer)

In Mary 2015, as the blogs circulated and reporters hounded her, Thomas sent a letter to a Louisville Courier-Journal reporter in which she said she was upset about people online calling her a liar and opportunist. The four-page letter went on to recount her experiences with Comer in devastating detail. Thomas said they dated for two years in Western Kentucky University in the 1990s and claimed that Comer not only hit her, but was a “toxic,” “abusive,” and “controlling” partner who isolated her from family and friends. Thomas heavily implied that Comer impregnated her and said he took her to an abortion clinic in November 1991 when she was 19, and was “enraged” when she listed his real name as the person escorting her home. Thomas said she kept documentation of the abortion given to her by the clinic.

lovely people in the GOP

[beardedmrbean]

It's not just Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass. In the wake of the violent attempt on former President Donald Trump's life, plenty of people took to social media to make jokes and comments, and they're reaping the consequences.

School employees, a restaurant worker, a fire chief and a political aide have all lost their jobs or resigned after outrage over their posts, according to statements by their employers and news reports.

Meanwhile, Jack Black ‒ the other member of the Tenacious D duo ‒ said he was "blindsided" as he announced he was ending the rest of their tour and would pause any plans to work with Gass again in the future.

(Gass briefly complained on stage that the shooter had missed — a sentiment repeated in various forms across social media in the hours after the assassination attempt.)

Celebrities' comments are certainly in the spotlight after a tragic incident, but regular people need to be careful about what they say, too, even if it is meant in jest, communications experts say. Joking about an assassination attempt that left a citizen dead is going too far.

"No matter how private your life is, everybody has an audience," said Karen North, a professor of digital social media at USC and a psychologist. "And there’s always an audience for people misbehaving."

Social media posts end in firings, resignations

An instructor at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, was put on unpaid leave over what university officials said on Monday was an "offensive and unacceptable social media post." By Tuesday, John James was no longer employed there, though it's not clear if he resigned or was fired, the Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

James' comments about the shooter missing were screenshotted and posted by the conservative social media account Libs of Tiktok.

"Words and actions that condone violence are unacceptable and contrary to our values, which call for respecting the intrinsic value and dignity of every individual," Jason Cissell, assistant vice president for communication at Bellarmine, said in a statement to the Courier Journal.

James didn't respond to a request for comment.

Similar comments about the shooting made by other non-celebrities have prompted backlash, too.

Another post by Libs of Tiktok highlighted comments made by a worker at the Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar, a restaurant with locations in several states. The restaurant later said in a post that the worker was no longer employed and had violated its social media policy.

Others out of a job include a middle school behavior facilitator in South Dakota and a Pennsylvania fire chief. In Wayne, Pennsylvania, the Wayne Business Association said its secretary resigned after a post about the shooting.

Social media is the 'town square.' Be careful what you say online

The idea that people should be fired for their social media posts has come from all sides of the political spectrum in recent years, North said. But this time, people should be able to agree some comments are inappropriate.

"When it comes to things like wishing somebody died, there is nothing more horrible than making public statements about that," she said.

Social media removes the social cues we get from typical interactions. If you start to make an inappropriate comment or joke among work colleagues, for example, you might notice them cringe or look away, and then apologize and walk back what you said. When you post something online, the reaction comes later, North said.

The desire to be the first to share an idea to your circle might prevent you from asking yourself whether you'd say this to an audience, or whether it should be kept around the dinner table with immediate family, North said. And remember the cardinal rule of social media: Once it's out there, it's out there forever.

"Social media has become the town square," she said, "where people are put in the stocks and held out there to be humiliated because of their actions."

[01courtreporter]

Louisville missing persons: 21-year-old Stevan Donovan' found safe'

The Courier-Journal